AIIB Current Affairs - 2019

The 3rd Annual Meeting of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) concluded in Mumbai, Maharashtra in optimistic note to raise its lending capacity to boost prosperity and security in Asia. The meeting was jointly organised by Department of Economic Affairs under Union Finance Ministry and AIIB.

Key Facts

The theme of third meeting was ‘Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure: Innovation and Collaboration’. It was attended by over 3,000 delegates from 86 member countries of AIIB. It was held on high note to improve connectivity within region and in turn enable citizens in the region to reach their potential and enjoy prosperity and security. It had several concurrent sessions that discussed critical issues pertaining to environment, low carbon emissions, connectivity through railway network across borders among several others.

The first AIIB board of governors annual meeting was held in Beijing, China in 2016 and second in Jeju, South Korea in 2017 . The fourth annual meeting will be held in Luxembourg in July 2019. Luxembourg is a founding member of AIIB. It is also leading international financial center in Europe and facilitator of investments between Europe and Asia.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

AIIB is multilateral development bank initiated by China. Its purpose is to provide finance to infrastructure development and regional connectivity projects in Asia-Pacific region. It is viewed as Asia’s response to West-dominated Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB).

It was officially established in December 2015 with mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia and beyond and opened for business in January 2016. It is headquartered in Beijing, China. Its goals are to boost economic development in Asia-Pacific region, provide infrastructure, and promote regional cooperation and partnership. It priorities investments in energy, power generation, transport, rural infrastructure, environmental protection and logistics in Asia.

So far it has 86 members including India (US is not its member of AIIB but its allies Canada, Germany, UK, Australia and South Korea have joined it). It has an authorised capital of US $100 billion. China is largest shareholder of AIIB with 26.06% voting shares. India with 7.5% vote share is second largest shareholder followed by Russia, Germany and South Korea.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved investment of $200 million in India’s National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) to give greater impetus to mega infrastructure projects. It will be investing US $100 million now and remaining $100 million in the time to come.

India: largest recipient of AIIB

AIIB so far approved $4.4 billion investments in 25 projects. Of these investments, $1.2 billion have been approved for six infrastructure projects in India, making it largest recipient of funds from the multilateral agency. AIIB is China led multilateral development bank set up in 2016. Its purpose is to provide finance to infrastructure development and regional connectivity projects in Asia-Pacific region. It has 83 member nations. India is second largest shareholder in AIIB after China. It is headquartered in Beijing, China.

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIFF)

NIIF was set up in December 2015 to catalyse funding into the country’s infrastructure sector. It has been registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India as a Category II Alternate Investment Fund. It has been set up as a fund of funds structure with aim to generate risk adjusted returns for its investors alongside promoting infrastructure development.

It has targeted corpus of Rs 40,000 crore to be raised over the years — 49% of it will be funded by government at any given point of time. The remaining 51% will be raised from domestic and global investors, including international pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, multilateral/bilateral investors. Its Governing Council is chaired by Finance Minister and has already been set up to act as an advisory council to the NIIF.